Musicians We Lost In 2023

By Anna Chan

December 19th, 2023

It’s always a big loss when the world loses a talented artist and, unfortunately, 2023 kicked off with several notable deaths in music. It began with Gangsta Boo, the pioneering Southern female rapper formerly of hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, who was found dead on New Year’s Day at age 43.

The next day, Alan Rankine of post-punk New Wave act The Associates, who also produced the Cocteau Twins and pursued his own solo music, died at age 64. Since then, we’ve also lost rock guitar legend Jeff Beck — who died at age 78 on Jan. 10 — and singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, who suffered cardiac arrest and died on Jan. 12 at age 54.

Since then, the world has lost musical greats including Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Gordon Lightfoot, David Crosby and more.

While their loved ones and fans around the globe mourn the loss of these artists, they will not be forgotten. Here, Billboard remembers the musicians who left us in 2023.

Denny Laine

(Oct. 29, 1944 – Dec. 5, 2023)

Jean Knight

(Jan. 26, 1943 – Nov. 22, 2023)

Rudolph Isley

(April 1, 1939 – Oct. 11, 2023)

Gary Wright

(April 26, 1943 – Sept. 4, 2023)

Steve Harwell

(Jan. 9, 1967 – Sept. 4, 2023)

Jimmy Buffett

(Dec. 25, 1946 – Sept. 1, 2023)

Robbie Robertson

(July 5, 1943 – Aug. 9, 2023)

Sinead O’Connor

(Dec. 8, 1966 – July 26, 2023)

Randy Meisner

(March 8, 1946 – July 26, 2023)

Brad Houser

(Sept. 7, 1960 – July 24, 2023)

Tony Bennett

(Aug. 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023)

Astrud Gilberto

(March 29, 1940 – June 5, 2023)

Tina Turner

(Nov. 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023)

Gordon Lightfoot

(Nov. 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023)

Harry Belafonte

(March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023)

Ryuichi Sakamoto

(1952 – March 28, 2023)

Gary Rossington

(Dec. 4, 1951 – March 5, 2023)

Burt Bacharach

(May 12, 1928 – Feb. 9, 2023)

David Crosby

(Aug. 14, 1941 – Jan. 19, 2023)

Lisa Marie Presley

(Feb. 1, 1968 – Jan. 12, 2023)

Jeff Beck

(June 24, 1944 – Jan. 10, 2023)